Mannock Film Clip?

[MicroSculpt]

Greetings!

A question for the collective brain. Is anyone aware the existence of a film clip of Mick Mannock? For such a great ace there is so little photographic coverage!

Other than the standard couple of shots we always see of Mick, is anyone aware of any others? A family album perhaps?

Thanks for the help!

Cheers!

Tom

[MicroSculpt]

... Oh yes, and to clarify, I have done the Google image search and the like.

I'm hoping perhaps someone who's favorite subject this is might be aware of some rare photos, news reels or such. Did they ever do story coverage of him in contemporary publications?

Thanks!

Tom

[alex_revell]

I've often wondered if there are any film clips of the investiture of Ball, McCudden and others gettting their VCs. Some of the still photos of Ball and his family I believe come from that his investiture and I think some of the Leefe Robinson photos. I've been into the Pathe news web site and there are some clips of Mrs McCudden when she went to the US after the war, but nothing of James getting his VC. I'm sure they and others must have been covered by the news media, but perhaps have been lost over the years. Pity.

Or maybe they just lived in a world that had not become so dominated by "media" or "personality" that they expected to be tracked by a lens of some kind or another!
The pictures of Ball's family at his investiture were probably family snaps taken for private purposes by a Box Brownie. We should beware of rearward projection of our values, expectations and contexts onto the lives of people from another world of eighty years ago.

[alex_revell]

Roderick,
Not sure I know what you're getting at with your 'rearward projection of our values'. I'm fairly sure there is a newsreel of Leefe Robinson at the Palace. The news reels were a great part of the news shown to the general public in cinemas - even in my lifetime! I know I've seen somewhere a note to the effect that the pictures of Ball and his family at the investiture are stills from a newsreel and there is also a newsreel of him being given Honorary Freedom of Nottingham. If you look at these last stills you will see that hardly anyone is looking at the camera. Has anyone done any research into the question of news reel coverage?

[alex_revell]

Had a very quick search. In WWW.BritishPathe.com., found three items under Mrs McCudden: Laying a wreath at the New York Cenotaph; leaving Liverpool for trip to US, and posing for the camera. I viewed the laying of the wreath, but after that could not get the others to play, even though it says that the previews are free. Anyway, I'm sure that a more detailed search of archive film (there are a great number of sites) would turn up some more items of interest.

[Trebrys]

On British television I have seen recently a film of Leefe Robinson - it was a good quality reel too.

Also, there was one on about a month ago that had Albert Ball inspecting a troupe of men that had lined up in his honour. He is followed by his father there - who was a pretty important man in Nottingham - but the line-up is definitely for Albert Ball junior. It struck me how small he was and it hammered home that he was just a boy!

[Bob Robbins]

Newsreel footage of Ball's investiture used to be obtainable via The Nottingham Historical Film Unit. It is brief, and of poor quality.

[Ginger.]

"It is brief, and of poor quality."

Does not surprise me. Unlike the Hun we did not worship the cult of the Ace flyer the emphasis being put on the 'team effort'
Best of luck in finding pictures of Mick Mannock at his investiture, they'll make interesting viewing for obvious reasons.

[Bulldog90]

I've seen that same footage of Ball that I believe you are all speaking about, its only a few seconds. I believe it comes from the Nottingham ceremony when he was granted made a "Freeman". Is this the investiture you speak of?

Bulldog 90